Page 52 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

I can’t contain myself now. I’m writhing with need. I’m struggling to get a hand free—if I could just touch myself! I have no shame, even though I’m aware that everyone around me is laughing at me.

Fuck them. This isn’t my fault!

“So,” Victor says, stepping forward into the clearing.

I can’t help it. I groan at the sight of him.

Why isn’thegoing crazy? The alpha bond is supposed to affect him just as much as it does me.

Then I notice the dissatisfaction on his face. He’s braced himself for this, maybe, but he’s not comfortable either.

I take a breath and force myself to hold still in spite of my anguish. Fuck him. He doesn’t get to see me wild with desire for him. I can control myself.

“Chain her up,” Victor says to Harley. “Make sure you use the iron chains. Those handcuffs she’s got on are only a stopgap. And make sure you wrap her arms around a tree so she won’t shift.”

“You’re not going to kill her?” Harley asks.

Victor raises his eyebrows. “Are you questioning me?”

“No,” Harley says quickly.

Victor is acting like an alpha. I wonder if he’s taken on that role. It would definitely fit.

Harley drags me away. I should probably be afraid, but I’m too busy being angry. I can’t believe that after all this time, Victor is still alive.

We never saw a body. It’s your own fault for assuming!

And I’mfurious—and humiliated—that the alpha bond between us is still so powerful. It makes me feel like I’m absolutely worthless to have my body react to his presence like that.

I want to kill him.

I want to rip off my clothes and present myself to him and let him fucking take me like I belong to him.

And I hate myself for that.

Harley pushes me forcefully up against a tree, and Edgar and David drag my arms around the fat trunk and chain my wrists together so that I’m embracing it. As soon as the iron touches my skin, I actually feel the power drain out of my body. I hadn’t realized how much I’ve gotten used to feeling the power of the moon moving through me, but the touch of iron removes my ability to access it.

I’ve always known that iron was detrimental to Moon Casters like this. But I’ve never really appreciated how horrible it feels to be bound with it.

“Come on,” Harley says to the other men, and they turn and walk away, leaving me standing with my arms around the tree.

Carefully, I slide down to sit. The bark scrapes my skin a little, but it’s better than standing. I rest my head against the trunk.

“Emlyn?” a soft voice whispers.

I look up. I know that voice.

Sure enough, my friend Jess, who I haven’t seen since the day I was run out of this pack, is peeking out from behind a bush.

I feel a rush of relief. “Jess.”

“You’re alive?”

I nod. “Can you come take these chains off me?”

“I thought you were dead,” she says, not moving. “Victor told us you died.”

“I thoughthehad died,” I say. “There was an earthquake—”

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